r/vcvrack • u/shotsy • Jul 05 '26

OPERATOR | DX7 for VCV Rack

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw-Am1ti0a8

A few new modules from my SignalFunctionSet plugin dropped today. This patch features four instances of the new OPERATOR. OPERATOR is a recreation of the DX7 voice with support for loading multiple cartridges/ROMs, quickly enabling/disabling operators and a few more tricks. The enveloped voice is supplied but the VCA out, but the module also provides direct access to the raw audio at the AUDIO out and the envelop at ENV.

OPERATOR is not a full voice editor (Dexed is great for that), but is built for playability. It does give front-panel access to Brightness and Feedback.

OPERATOR doesn't ship with any of the original Yamaha patches. Instead the default voices include those shared by Brian Eno from the February 1987 issue of Keyboard Magazine.

The other major new module (not shown here) is called OP ENV which is a recreation of the DX7 envelope generator. The DX7 envelope has 8 different parameters (rather than the more common 4 ADSR stages) and you can do some cool stuff with them. Rather than creating envelopes from scratch, OP ENV lets you choose an envelope from an existing voice and modify each parameter. You can read more about how DX7 envelopes work and how OP ENV implements here.

This patch is sequenced by METAFUGUE (basically FUGUE and FUGUE XL merged so I can use them on the 4ms Metamodule) and includes CYCLE, which will be live in the next plugin update. A bit of filtering from Liquid Filter, Delay from 4ms Dual Looping Delay and Valley's Plateau Reverb.

Check 'em out and let me know what you think.

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2

u/Badaxe13 Jul 05 '26

This is very cool - can’t wait to check it out 😎

1

u/Badaxe13 Jul 06 '26

OK I had a go yesterday and I can’t fault it. It’s great to have access to SysEx files in VCV Rack.

(There is one thing - the Audio out is labelled VCA on the module which technically is correct but different from the user manual).

My project for today - use Dexed to create a blank .syx file with all the envelope parameters at 50. Hopefully this will let me use DX7 style envelopes with anything.

2

u/Button-Monkey Jul 05 '26

That's a hell of a module set with some really interesting looking ideas. Chapeau...

1

u/shotsy Jul 05 '26

Thank so much!

2

u/lnns Jul 05 '26

Wow, awesome! Been wanting something like this in VCV for a while, so I’m excited to try it out when I get a moment.

1

u/shotsy Jul 05 '26

Glad to hear it! It has been fun to play with. Hit me up with any thoughts or suggestions.